CBS Era

Columbia Records, founded in 1888, is the oldest record company in the world. It was established in the District of Columbia and was named after the District of Columbia. Columbia initially sold Edison's phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Delaware. In 1893, Edison and the North American Phonograph Company ceased sales and phonograph manufacturing in Columbia.

In 1938, it was acquired by the subsidiary Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) for US$700,000. It belongs to the American CBS Film and Television Group together with Columbia Tristar Productions.

CBS/Sony period

In 1968, Japan's Sony Corporation took a stake and was reorganized into CBS/Sony Records.

Sony Columbia Period

In January 1988, under the leadership of Akio Morita, Sony successively acquired the film and music departments of CBS, making CBS/Sony 100% the music department of Sony. , and changed its name to Sony Music. The official Chinese name is "Sony Columbia Music Entertainment", referred to as "Sony Music".

Sony Boardman Period

In November 2004, led by Howard Stringer, then chairman of Sony USA, Sony Music and global media giant Boardman Mann's music division BMG Music merged to form Sony Bertelsmann Music Entertainment on a 50-50 basis.

Sony Music Period

On August 5, 2008, Sony announced the acquisition of the other 50% stake in Sony Bertelsmann held by Bertelsmann, becoming a 100% American Sony subsidiary and changing its name. Back to "Sony Music Entertainment Inc., referred to as SMEI".